by David HowellMUSC Creating Collaborative Care
MUSC’s interprofessional competition brought students from different
programs together to dissect a health care case and provide
recommendations.

The annual Clinician Administrator Relationship Improvement
Organization (Clarion) was established held at MUSC Nov. 20. The
program expands the educational experience of health care students
through team interaction, and raises awareness of each profession to
increase patient health outcomes.

“The competition is an excellent way for students from all six colleges
to collaborate together in solving health- care-related problems,” said
Thompson, SCCP MUSC campus Class of 2010, SGA secretary and Phi Lambda
Sigma vice president. “The teams work for hours on end, dissecting a
case involving a sentinel event to change the system and avoid future
poor outcomes. This year’s case was very challenging and unique,
because the teams incorporated informatics and interactive systems into
their design. These technologies—computerized physician order entry,
electronic white boards and bar code medication administration—are
changing in our very own hospitals. These new areas of high-tech health
care will impact everyone’s practice and these students have an
advanced understanding of these technologies and will be well prepared
when they are working in clinical practice.”

“Each year the cases challenge students to delve into areas that may
not be part of their current courses. All three teams were
well-prepared and delivered polished presentations that demonstrated
their knowledge and their effort put into the experience,” said Valerie
West, Ed.D., associate provost for educational programs.

Seven teams submitted presentations to preliminary judges: Amy Blue,
Ph.D., associate provost for education and MUSC Creating
Collabora-tive Care director; Edward Soltis, Ph.D., professor and
director of professional education, Depart-ment of Pharmaceutical and
Biological Sciences; and Barbara Tilley, Ph.D., Distinguished
University Professor and chair, Department of Biometry and
Epidemiology. Three qualifying teams were involved in the finalists’
competition held at the Storm Eye Institute auditorium.

“To excel in the competition, student's must not only learn new
material, they must learn to work together as a team. These skills will
serve them well in their future interprofessional experiences. In
addition, they come to respect each other’s professional knowledge
while getting to know the strengths of someone outside their
profession,” West said.

Judges included Oscar Lovelace, M.D.; Rick G. Schnellmann, Ph.D.,
professor and chair, Department of Pharmaceutical and Biological
Sciences; James Sterrett, PharmD, assistant professor, SCCP MUSC
campus; and myself. Following the competition, a reception took place
where the teams were presented with awards by West. This year’s
participants, faculty and staff acknowledged West for her support of
MUSC’s Clarion program established in 2006.

“It is gratifying to know our future health care is in the hands of
these truly accomplished students,” West said. “Their performance and
willingness to involve themselves in this intensive experience outside
of their already demanding programs demonstrates their commitment to
being leaders in health care improvement.”

The first place team will travel to the University of Minnesota in
April 2009 to compete at the National Clarion Competition in
Minneapolis. A first place prize of $5,000 will be awarded to the top
team.

The
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